Ollie Bearman explains what transformed his F1 season…

Ollie Bearman has said there's no single magic bullet behind his late-season surge with Haas. But the mix of a better car, a new structure over the race weekends, and a more mature mindset has yielded results that have turned a promising year into something more substantial.

The 20-year-old arrived in Las Vegas on the back of a solid few races. He managed a fourth-place finish in Mexico City and a sixth-place finish at Interlagos, which contributed a fruitful haul of 24 points for the American team.

This has seen Haas rise in the constructors' standings, while Bearman also managed to overtake his team-mate Esteban Ocon in the drivers' standings.

This boost in performance partly came from an upgrade to the VF-25, with Haas introducing a substantial package for Austin, revising the floor, rear corner, sidepod inlets, and mirrors.

“It has to do with the upgrade," Bearman said ahead of the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix. "No, it definitely is down to the upgrade, and I'm really proud of the team for what they did with that, because it's a risky move. But it's yielded us some points, which is what the target was.”

The Briton added: “I don't think the impact of the upgrade was huge. It doesn't have to be huge at this stage of F1, honestly, where we are with the cars and how close everyone is. It's not a revolutionary upgrade, but it doesn't have to be to have revolutionary results.”

Hardware alone doesn't explain this jump in pace. The summer break brought a change in weekend structure for the racing driver.

“Probably since the summer break I tried to add a bit more structure to my weekends, how I go about the weekends… Before the summer break… I spent the whole time focusing on how can I improve my driving, how can I improve the car set-up to find that half a tenth. Spending really no time thinking about where my head is at prior to getting in the car and setting goals for each session.

“Now just making sure that half an hour before the session I stop working on the set-up and the driving and all of those things and focus on my mental side. I found that to be quite useful.”

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team (Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images)

He added that racking up the miles on the Haas machinery has also allowed him to further explore and understand its limits, something he's been able to lean on more consistently.

“Definitely the car has made steps in the right direction. Still, at the limit, it can be difficult… But I've, of course, gained experience of what the car does and feedback it gives you where it's very close to the limit and when you're right on the very edge. I've been able to increase my consistency with that, but also with my approach to the weekend.”

After a mild first half of the season, which included a number of near-misses just outside the points, Bearman is confident in how he used that time to learn from these moments.

“The first half of the season is purely exploratory and has to be that way because you have to find what works for you and what doesn't… As long as you don't make them again and you learn from them, that is the key… If that means having a ropey first half of my first season, no one is going to remember that in two or three years' time.”